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Rain Partier

Officials in Georgia have thwarted a plot by a group of third-grade special education students to kill their teacher.

Officials at the Center Elementary School in Waycross, Ga., learned of the plot on March 28, when a student told authorities about the plan before the start of the school day, the Waycross Journal-Herald reports.

The plot by as many as nine boys and girls was a serious threat, Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner said Tuesday.

The students allegedly brought to school a broken steak knife, a roll of duct tape, handcuffs, ribbon and a crystal paperweight in a bid to kill their teacher, Belle Carter, the paper reports.

"We did not hear anybody say they intended to kill her, but could they have accidentally killed her? Absolutely," Tanner said. "We feel like if they weren't interrupted, there would have been an attempt. Would they have been successful? We don't know."

The children, ages 8 and 9, were apparently mad at the teacher because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair, Tanner said.

"It’s our understanding that she did in fact discipline one of the students, and they did not like it, he told FOX News. "After that, she began to plot revenge on the teacher."

Tanner told FOX News not all of the students were in on all the details of the allegedly plot.

"We believe that some of them knew the entire plot and some of them were ... just asked to bring other items in but they might not have realized the entire plot," he said.

Three of the students have been identified as ringleaders and will likely face prosecution under an unruly charge, because of their age, Tanner told FOX News.

They could be expelled, but a prosecutor said they are too young to be charged with a crime under Georgia law.

School officials spoke with parents about the incident on Monday, the paper said.

Theresa Martin, spokeswoman for the Ware County school system, said nine children had been given discipline up to and including long-term suspension. She would not be more specific. She said none of the children had been back to school since the case came to light.

The alleged target is a veteran educator who teaches third-grade students with a range of learning disabilities, including attention deficit disorder, delayed development and hyperactivity, friends and parents said.

Tanner said the scheme involved a division of roles. One child's job was to cover windows so no one could see outside, he said. Another was supposed to clean up after the attack.

He said the class had not been problematic in the past.

"I don't think that there's been any disciplinary problems that have occurred in that classroom of a substantial nature," he told FOX News.

The parents of the students have cooperated with investigators, who aren't allowed to question the children without their parents' or guardians' consent, he said. Authorities have withheld the children's names.

Police expected to forward the results of their investigation to prosecutors, Tanner said.

Children in Georgia can't be charged with a crime unless they are at least 13, District Attorney Rick Currie said.

Martin, told The Florida Times-Union of Jacksonville, Fla., that administrators would follow school system policy and state law in disciplining the students.

"From what I understand, they were considered pretty good kids," Martin said. "But we have to take this seriously, whether they were serious or not about carrying this through, and that's what we did."

Four mothers of other third-grade students at Center Elementary called for the immediate expulsion of the suspected plotters.

Stacy Carter and Deana Hiott both cited school system policy stating that any student who brings "anything reasonably considered to be a weapon" is to be expelled for at least the remainder of the school year.

"We don't want our children around them," Carter told the Times-Union. "The one with the knife could have stabbed my child or someone else's child at lunch or out on the playground."

"This is an isolated incident, an aberration. ... We have good kids," Center Principal Angie Coleman told the newspaper.

Rain Partier

Officials in Georgia have thwarted a plot by a group of third-grade special education students to kill their teacher.

Officials at the Center Elementary School in Waycross, Ga., learned of the plot on March 28, when a student told authorities about the plan before the start of the school day, the Waycross Journal-Herald reports.

The plot by as many as nine boys and girls was a serious threat, Waycross Police Chief Tony Tanner said Tuesday.

The students allegedly brought to school a broken steak knife, a roll of duct tape, handcuffs, ribbon and a crystal paperweight in a bid to kill their teacher, Belle Carter, the paper reports.

"We did not hear anybody say they intended to kill her, but could they have accidentally killed her? Absolutely," Tanner said. "We feel like if they weren't interrupted, there would have been an attempt. Would they have been successful? We don't know."

The children, ages 8 and 9, were apparently mad at the teacher because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair, Tanner said.

"It’s our understanding that she did in fact discipline one of the students, and they did not like it, he told FOX News. "After that, she began to plot revenge on the teacher."

Tanner told FOX News not all of the students were in on all the details of the allegedly plot.

"We believe that some of them knew the entire plot and some of them were ... just asked to bring other items in but they might not have realized the entire plot," he said.

Three of the students have been identified as ringleaders and will likely face prosecution under an unruly charge, because of their age, Tanner told FOX News.

They could be expelled, but a prosecutor said they are too young to be charged with a crime under Georgia law.

School officials spoke with parents about the incident on Monday, the paper said.

Theresa Martin, spokeswoman for the Ware County school system, said nine children had been given discipline up to and including long-term suspension. She would not be more specific. She said none of the children had been back to school since the case came to light.

The alleged target is a veteran educator who teaches third-grade students with a range of learning disabilities, including attention deficit disorder, delayed development and hyperactivity, friends and parents said.

Tanner said the scheme involved a division of roles. One child's job was to cover windows so no one could see outside, he said. Another was supposed to clean up after the attack.

He said the class had not been problematic in the past.

"I don't think that there's been any disciplinary problems that have occurred in that classroom of a substantial nature," he told FOX News.

The parents of the students have cooperated with investigators, who aren't allowed to question the children without their parents' or guardians' consent, he said. Authorities have withheld the children's names.

Police expected to forward the results of their investigation to prosecutors, Tanner said.

Children in Georgia can't be charged with a crime unless they are at least 13, District Attorney Rick Currie said.

Martin, told The Florida Times-Union of Jacksonville, Fla., that administrators would follow school system policy and state law in disciplining the students.

"From what I understand, they were considered pretty good kids," Martin said. "But we have to take this seriously, whether they were serious or not about carrying this through, and that's what we did."

Four mothers of other third-grade students at Center Elementary called for the immediate expulsion of the suspected plotters.

Stacy Carter and Deana Hiott both cited school system policy stating that any student who brings "anything reasonably considered to be a weapon" is to be expelled for at least the remainder of the school year.

"We don't want our children around them," Carter told the Times-Union. "The one with the knife could have stabbed my child or someone else's child at lunch or out on the playground."

"This is an isolated incident, an aberration. ... We have good kids," Center Principal Angie Coleman told the newspaper.

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.I wish enough "Hello's" to get you through the final "Good-bye.."

Great Scott!!!

They didn't plan on killing her. The knife was just to cut the tape after they knocked her over the head with the paper-weight and tied her up.

I saw the story on CNN, and it didn't go into plan details, either.

Although when I saw that the students were probably challenged in some way, I thought "how can this be a criminal case?" It's kids being kids. Which is not to say that real harm could not have been inflicted, but I hope they don't treat these kids like criminals.

They didn't plan on killing her. The knife was just to cut the tape after they knocked her over the head with the paper-weight and tied her up.

I saw the story on CNN, and it didn't go into plan details, either.

Although when I saw that the students were probably challenged in some way, I thought "how can this be a criminal case?" It's kids being kids. Which is not to say that real harm could not have been inflicted, but I hope they don't treat these kids like criminals.

Carrie

by Carrie » Thu Apr 03, 2008 12:52 pm

kingbobb wrote:I saw the story on CNN, and it didn't go into plan details, either.

Although when I saw that the students were probably challenged in some way, I thought "how can this be a criminal case?" It's kids being kids. Which is not to say that real harm could not have been inflicted, but I hope they don't treat these kids like criminals.

The article said they could only be charged with being unruly because of their age, and I'm sorry, but plotting to kill your teacher is not just "kids being kids." Also, they aren't 'challenged'. They have behavioral problems like ADD and ADHD, neither of which prevents them from knowing that what they were doing was wrong, as evidenced by the fact that one student was assigned the job of covering the windows so that no one could see what they were doing.

Carrie

kingbobb wrote:I saw the story on CNN, and it didn't go into plan details, either.

Although when I saw that the students were probably challenged in some way, I thought "how can this be a criminal case?" It's kids being kids. Which is not to say that real harm could not have been inflicted, but I hope they don't treat these kids like criminals.

The article said they could only be charged with being unruly because of their age, and I'm sorry, but plotting to kill your teacher is not just "kids being kids." Also, they aren't 'challenged'. They have behavioral problems like ADD and ADHD, neither of which prevents them from knowing that what they were doing was wrong, as evidenced by the fact that one student was assigned the job of covering the windows so that no one could see what they were doing.

Post Whore

Carrie wrote:The article said they could only be charged with being unruly because of their age, and I'm sorry, but plotting to kill your teacher is not just "kids being kids." Also, they aren't 'challenged'. They have behavioral problems like ADD and ADHD, neither of which prevents them from knowing that what they were doing was wrong, as evidenced by the fact that one student was assigned the job of covering the windows so that no one could see what they were doing.

Wait a second...these kids were put in Special Ed classes because they had ADD and ADHD? Seriously?

I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. I even took medication for it, but I wasn't in any special education courses. They put me in gifted courses throughout elementary and middle school.

Maybe I am an exception though. I have often wondered how far I could go or have gone if I didn't have ADHD.

Post Whore

Carrie wrote:The article said they could only be charged with being unruly because of their age, and I'm sorry, but plotting to kill your teacher is not just "kids being kids." Also, they aren't 'challenged'. They have behavioral problems like ADD and ADHD, neither of which prevents them from knowing that what they were doing was wrong, as evidenced by the fact that one student was assigned the job of covering the windows so that no one could see what they were doing.

Wait a second...these kids were put in Special Ed classes because they had ADD and ADHD? Seriously?

I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. I even took medication for it, but I wasn't in any special education courses. They put me in gifted courses throughout elementary and middle school.

Maybe I am an exception though. I have often wondered how far I could go or have gone if I didn't have ADHD.

Carrie

by Carrie » Thu Apr 03, 2008 1:02 pm

Alex Delarge wrote:Wait a second...these kids were put in Special Ed classes because they had ADD and ADHD? Seriously?

I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. I even took medication for it, but I wasn't in any special education courses. They put me in gifted courses throughout elementary and middle school.

Maybe I am an exception though. I have often wondered how far I could go or have gone if I didn't have ADHD.

It's not the same type of Special Ed most people think of. They put children with behavioral problems in separate classes so that they don't disrupt other students. You may not have had significant enough behavioral problems to be separated.

Carrie

Alex Delarge wrote:Wait a second...these kids were put in Special Ed classes because they had ADD and ADHD? Seriously?

I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child. I even took medication for it, but I wasn't in any special education courses. They put me in gifted courses throughout elementary and middle school.

Maybe I am an exception though. I have often wondered how far I could go or have gone if I didn't have ADHD.

It's not the same type of Special Ed most people think of. They put children with behavioral problems in separate classes so that they don't disrupt other students. You may not have had significant enough behavioral problems to be separated.

Post Whore

Carrie wrote:It's not the same type of Special Ed most people think of. They put children with behavioral problems in separate classes so that they don't disrupt other students. You may not have had significant enough behavioral problems to be separated.

Oh, I have had my fair share of battles with my teachers.

Best advice: If you are going to do something really nasty, like instead of writing an essay on topic, writing it as a critique of the teacher's method, make sure you apologize and only do it once, you will totally get away with it.

Post Whore

Carrie wrote:It's not the same type of Special Ed most people think of. They put children with behavioral problems in separate classes so that they don't disrupt other students. You may not have had significant enough behavioral problems to be separated.

Oh, I have had my fair share of battles with my teachers.

Best advice: If you are going to do something really nasty, like instead of writing an essay on topic, writing it as a critique of the teacher's method, make sure you apologize and only do it once, you will totally get away with it.